To ask for your thrifty tips on keeping the food shop down

[savingsavvy]

Absolutely everything in the food shop has gone up and not just by 10% in some cases a lot more. The 20p here and 50p there is adding up and I'm keen to be as thrifty as I can to retain our current shopping budget without having to increase it too much.

I already intend to to the following but there must be more that you can share and we can all help each other:

Buying bigger/bulk packs such as pasta, toilet roll, where it's cheaper it buy a bigger pack

Stock up on non perishable items when I see them on special offer

Convert a bit of the fresh items to frozen and stock up on the freezer - tends to be cheaper and don't need to worry about things going out of date

Downgrade where possible, I've done this with bread so far and will try some of the cheaper butter/spreads

Over to you!

Experiment with the quantity of laundry liquid/powder.

I discovered that about half the quantity gets our clothes clean - unless they're very dirty.

I buy lush shampoo bars, bars of soap, lush make up remover disc, and they all seem to last much longer than the liquids

the lush shampoo bar suds up really well compared to others ive had

We have a Nutribullet and make smoothies for breakfast. I buy the cheapest apples, pears, etc. Freeze over ripe bananas and use frozen berries. Add some oats and, on a good day, we don’t feel hungry until dinner time.

Make sure you do get some treats in.

Make your own bread. Cheaper than even the value bread and so much better for you. You won’t each as much either as it’s heartier.

If you can't cut out meat, use less meat and bulk the dish with tinned red kidney beans.

Costco is expensive, that’s for sure. We use Sam’s instead and much cheaper for bulk items. Not sure if they exist in the UK. Costco market very cleverly to make you think it’s cheaper. I like the way Sam’s shows the price per ounce/piece etc so you can compare with the regular grocery stores.

I've actually gone back to online groceries as although Aldi is cheaper I was putting way too many "bjts" in and sweets and crisps and spending more than I needed to.
I will probably still pop occasionally for the best bargains but now I meal plan and get a delivery saving me about 20 per week.
I also use less meat and stretch the meat further. So I buy decent meat from butchers but only have 3 meat meals.
We have things like a massive homemade sausage pasta bake that has good sos chopped into small rounds and homemade tomato sauce with veg to pack it out.
Chicken marinated in spices and then stuffed in wraps with loads of salad.
Hungry teens can have a mini naan or chunk of baguette to pack out some meals.

Buy bread and freeze - you will never throw bread away again.

Tesco do the huge rolls now on the largest pack size. They work out much cheaper than who gives a crap and I think they are the same size

@BaaCake it really does work well. I'm useless at economising and this helps keep me in check!

For example, I have the following on subscribe and save and these are the prices I pay. They just turn up each month or every 2 / 3 months depending on how I've got it set ..

Finish quantum dishwashing tablets pack of 100 - I pay £6.60

Walkers box of crisps, 48 packs - I pay £5.45

Andrew toilet wipes, 12 packets - I pay £7.40

Kinder chocolate bars, box of 36 - I pay £4.45

Fairy washing capsules, 90 capsules - £8.00

Etc etc. there's often a 20% discount to stick it on subscribe and save so I always look out for this. I have cat food, bleach, fabric conditioner and loads more... and I pay less than half for a lot of this stuff

So there's my recommendation!

We freeze a loaf of sliced bread as soon as it’s bought and then only remove the individual slices as needed. As PP said, it saves money as there’s never any stale bread left.

We do the same with home baked bread. Make two big loaves at a time, slice it and freeze it. It makes fabulous toast.

I shop every day and I find this reduces waste, we can buy what we fancy and take full advantage of all the reduced things, also I use several different shops depending where I am so can compare prices and buy the right thing in the right place.

I cannot manage a weekly shop and never have been able to do it that way, I think the whole idea of a weekly shop was invented by the supermarkets, along with a lot of the other problems.

Buy in bulk on offer where you can afford.

Use EVERYTHING.

Eg veg in an omelette or soup

Fruit in a smoothie

Leftover pastry can be made into a danish with a dollop of jam, or cheese pin wheels.

We bought a sack of baking potatoes and baked them all at once and have put them in the freezer for lunches.

Use the grill oven if you only need one tray, or stick some potatoes in for baking.

Don't be afraid of a few weird meals/combos
get things used up.

That is absolutely amazing. I hate having all the boxes turn up but still amazing!

Ooh good shout!

It does for us. It won't work if you have someone who thinks oooh we have loads ill scrunch loads up everytime I have a pee. (

I struggled with the lush bars they went all soggy quickly- what is the secret?

I’ve never used it at all!!

Do an audit of what you have in, and meal plan around that, before you go shopping.

I realised how much I spent on top ups when lockdown started and shopping was such an ordeal that no way was I popping out for something. I try to last 8-10 days but I have a freezer and freeze bread. I used to buy expensive pasta but I get they huge cheap bags now and nobody has mentioned it. I bulk buy rice too. I’ve stopped baking everything except some bread unless it’s Christmas or a birthday. I used to make cakes and biscuits weekly and puddings but I can’t justify the cost. I meal plan so I can use leftovers so if I need 2 sticks of celery for something then I will use the rest in a different recipe in the next few days. We have lots of root veg, no berries or soft fruit unless it’s on offer. Porridge only for breakfast with sultanas and seeds. I eek out mince with red lentils, chicken with chick peas or butter beans. We have cut down massively on meat and I use more tinned fish than I used to. I have a slow cooker which helps with cheap cuts of meat and I can make veg heavy tomato sauce for pasta more economically than using the oven. We get cheap eggs from the allotment shop and eat loads (4 teenagers).

When I was a sahm I was able to do this almost daily shop with yellow sticker's!
Agree I'm not entirely convinced by a big shop...

I'd love to know how you are managing to find Guosto/Hellofresh to be cheaper than the supermarket. The lowest 'per portion price' is around £3.20, as far as I can see. I have a family of five, and I would (almost) never spend £16 on a single meal for 5. I guess it maybe depends where you shop normally.

I cook for the freezer so do job lots of macaroni cheese, pasta bake, chilli, sausage stew, cottage pie in single portion microwave tubs. Usually the day before a shop to use up what’s left.
Stops us reaching for takeaway or bought ready meals on CBA days.

Also the day before my Tesco delivery I’ll go round lidl and get anything that’s cheaper than in my online basket (but no impulse buys) and usually save about a fiver